27 February – 03 March 2023

In Focus

Lake Chad soon to be covered by the legal framework of UN Water Convention

#LakeChad is soon to be covered by the legal framework of the #WaterConvention thanks to #Niger's🇳🇪 confirmation of its desire to join this unique @UN treaty —a key step for #WaterAction as momentum builds for the #UNWaterConference convened by @UN_PGA

At a national workshop this week, Niger officially confirmed its desire to accede to the United Nations Water Convention, a decisive step for the region as it will bring Lake Chad fully under the convention's legal framework. By becoming a party, Niger will join other countries in the Lake Chad region, namely Chad and Cameroon, which became parties in 2020 and 2022 respectively, and Nigeria, which is in the process of becoming a party. Niger shares 90% of its water resources with its neighbouring countries and challenges are increasing due to the rapid increase in water demand due to population growth, urbanization, intensification of irrigated agriculture and increasing industrialization.

Executive Secretary reaffirms support for sustainable COVID-19 recovery

Addressing a high-level meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku convened by the President of Azerbaijan, UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova stressed the need to redouble efforts to align countries’ ongoing COVID-19 recovery with the Sustainable Development agenda, especially in light of the multifaceted impacts of the war in Ukraine. She highlighted the use by over 100 countries worldwide, including many from the Non-Aligned Movement, of UNECE’s international conventions and standards, which have contributed both to countries’ pandemic response and to efforts to ‘recover better’. Examples include cross- border water cooperation through the Water Convention, standards facilitating international transport and trade, globally harmonized vehicle regulations, resource management tools for the mining and energy sector, agricultural standards, and many more.

Transport

New rules to facilitate financing and acquisition of railway rolling stock

The new Model Rules on the Permanent Identification of Railway Rolling Stock adopted by UNECE’s Inland Transport Committee (ITC) will facilitate the financing and acquisition of railway rolling stock leading to a reduced cost for those wishing to invest in the railways. Providing more certainty to financial institutions, the Model Rules will encourage more investment in trains and thus a further shift towards the transport of goods and passengers by railway, as opposed to the more polluting modes of transport. This will in turn provide more impetus to efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the transport sector and to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Video of the week

Statistics

UNECE leads EU-funded project for better use of geospatial and statistical data

Funded by the European Commission, the project aims to facilitate collaboration and greater integration of geospatial and statistical data through the use of common standards and stronger institutional partnerships. Integrating such data can have multiple benefits, such as improved data quality and interoperability of datasets, new possibilities for data analysis and presentation, and greater insights for decision-making and policy development. In particular, the integration of geospatial and statistical information is important for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The project supports the existing activities by Eurostat, UN-GGIM Europe and other partners at the international, regional and national levels.

Circular economy

Innovation, Transparency and Traceability: A Must in the Clothing Industry

A fundamental benefit of embarking into traceability is the opportunity to gain full visibility of the value chain, identify all suppliers and actors up to raw material providers, and proactively engage with them to prevent and mitigate environmental and social risks and impacts. It allows producers, brands, consumers, governments and regulators to have the full range of information and to tackle the complexity of current supply chains in the garment and footwear industry. In this respect, UNECE and its project “The Sustainability Pledge” are effectively preparing stakeholders, governments and actors in the textile and leather industry to take up traceability and transparency approaches, with support of advanced technologies.

Upcoming Events

World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations

7 – 9 March 2023

2023 Symposium on the Future Networked Car

13 – 16 March 2023

UNECE at UN 2023 Water Conference

22 – 24 March 2023

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